When I decided to write this article for Politichicks, I didn’t want it to be from the prospective of what the media or statistics suggest but rather from an insider’s view. For twelve years prior to Obamacare closing our private practice, our office and staff worked with Georgia and South Carolina Human Resource agencies. DFCS (Department of Family and Children Services- GA) and DSS (Department of Social Services-SC) were government agencies that would contract services out for families who were at risk or their children were in foster care. I served as the CFO of both our for-profit and our non-profit agency under the umbrella of our regional agency.

For those twelve years I would wonder if anything could top what I witnessed on a daily basis in terms of tragic decay of family values, but as soon as I would wonder a case would be handed to us by a caseworker or court system and the circumstances were worse than the others we worked. Our agency hired 1,099 contractors who had Master’s degrees in either social work or counseling. Several of our team members including my husband had extra credentials in substance abuse counseling as well. On top of my fiscal responsibilities I also garnered a degree in criminal justice and took certification training to handle domestic violence. My degree concentration was in family violence. For over 3 years every Saturday I handled a group of domestic violence offenders. That’s right offenders not the victims. I had to handle to attitudes, the twisted outlook of acceptable behaviors and the common threads of such violent behaviors every person in the group shared. There were women as well as men charged with violent behavior so for 26 weeks not only did they have to show up they also had to participate in order to get a satisfactory completion from me on top of paying their fees.

Excuses in this line of work were frequent and consistent. It was never the adult’s fault if their children were taken away, it was never the fault of the abuser that they lost control of their temper and unfortunately it was few and far between that we would see a successful outcome in any of the cases we worked or were involved in.

Sadly, the most consistency we saw was the continued outcome for many of the children and adults in these situations. You see, for the families that were in crisis and the children were in foster care consistent situations were generational welfare and generational abuse (whether physical, emotional, or substance). In my training I learned about theories that would explain why people became what they are today. I watched potential in children to be successful and be the one out of the family who would make their outcome better diminish because of what I saw as an addiction to their normal surroundings. Yes, I said addiction. You see these families for the most part were duplicating behaviors and outcomes that they were raised with. Many of the families we tried to help were single mothers with multiple children by multiple fathers. Those fathers were either incarcerated or dead. In half of the cases we worked a grandparent or an aunt was raising the children. Very seldom did we have cases where a father figure or uncle was involved. So the pattern of behavior continued. Unfortunately many of the sad cases that involved young male teenagers in foster care would consist of the young teen involved in gang activity or had a criminal record. Most of them my husband and I would see a few years later on the news being arrested for armed robbery or murder. Their life seemed to have no chance of success. It was heartbreaking and tragic.

Governments spending on entitlements were at an all-time high throughout those years as they are today and many budgets were squeezed and often time’s providers who worked hard for these families never got paid for the services they billed. One state alone owed our agency over $50,000 for services provided and used in the court systems, but we were told there was no money in the budget. That created a whole new crisis of shortages of providers to offer services and this was back in 2008. It is worse today.

There is a moral crisis in our country today. It has become the “new normal” to push for single parent households because our Government will reward you with monthly checks if the father figure is not in the house. For many of these single mothers the thought of obtaining an education or a job skill is unlikely because they are either too concerned with where their next check will come from or where their next “high” will be bought. We saw the abuse of the system first hand. We witnessed the state write a check for some families for furniture for the house at the tune of $10,000 before knowing that taxpayers are fitting the bill. Society today glorifies teen pregnancies, thug life in music videos and rap music glorifies criminal behavior and domestic violence while touting youth today can be a success without hard work or education just like the thug rappers they idolized.

The Democratic Party has waged a war on accountability, moral values and faith because for the most part this party has been successful in doing so. They have provided continued cradle to grave financial assistance if people keep them in power despite how it impacts the country as a whole. We have a stark reality we are facing today, as soon those of us who believe in moral values, accountability, hard work and faith will be outnumbered by those who want the Nanny State. It is incumbent for us as conservative women especially to band together and make a change. We must voice our beliefs and not allow the socialist progressives on the democratic side to speak for women as a whole.

I have seen the worst case scenarios play out in person. I have watched the faces of the abused children as they came through our doors. I have witnessed the potential of a child be snuffed out by the promises of a gangster life. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a war we must win.

About the Author

South Carolina PolitiChick Michele Toth served as producer and co-host of a popular Fox News affiliate station WNRR1380 and still fills in regularly as guest host for the Austin Rhodes Show on WGAC 95.1 FM in Augusta, Ga. Michele has interviewed such guests as Ambassador John Bolton, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, Economist Peter Schift, and many more. Michele also has assisted as a social media strategist for political campaigns in both South Carolina and Georgia. Michele holds a Masters Degree in Management and Leadership and currently works as an Administrator for a large healthcare entity in Augusta, Georgia. Her articles have been seen on the Daily Caller and several other conservative media sites. You can follow Michele on Facebook and also on Twitter @mychel and see more of her writing/articles on her website chelholt.com.

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